The 'Haunting Of Hill House' Season 2 Is "Much Scarier Than Season 1"

As if the Bent-Neck Lady was not already horrifying enough, it sounds like the Haunting of Hill House creator has something even more nightmare-inducing in store for fans in the upcoming second season. The new ghost story will move out of Hill House and into Bly Manor with an entirely new cast of characters, and showrunner Mike Flanagan dropped some new details about The Haunting of Hill House Season 2 in an interview with film blog Birth.Movies.Death that will have horror fans pumped for the anthology series' return.

Season 2 of The Haunting series will be called The Haunting of Bly Manor, and like Season 1, it will be based on a famous horror novel. The new season will bring Henry James' 1898 ghost story The Turn of the Screw to life. The spooky novella centers on a governess who takes a job watching two children at Bly Manor, only to start seeing ghosts in the building. But Mike Flanagan revealed the season will expand to touch on James' full body of work rather than just that one story, and the result will be the show's scariest season yet, apparently.

We’re looking at all the ghost stories of Henry James as the jumping-off point for the season, so it very much is a whole new deal. It’s a cool way to expand on some of the things I loved about Season 1, but within the framework of a new story, without having to be restrained by the decisions we made last time. For Henry James fans, it’s going to be pretty wild, and for people who aren’t familiar with his work, it’s going to be unbelievably scary. I already think it’s much scarier than Season 1, so I’m very excited about it.

But just because it's a new story does not mean the show will lose what made it so dynamic in Season 1. Flanagan confirmed there will still be ghosts hidden in various scenes for viewers to try to find. Plus, the two actors confirmed to star in the new season are familiar faces from Season 1: Victoria Pedretti will play the governess Dani after playing Nell Crain in Hill House, and Oliver Jackson-Cohen will play Peter, a charming Bly Manor employee, after helming Hill House as Luke Crain.

Pedretti and Jackson-Cohen will not be the only returning stars to play new characters in The Haunting of Bly Manor. Flanagan confirmed other Season 1 actors are in the new season as well, along with some exciting new stars to make fans scream.

We’re hanging the season on Victoria Pedretti and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and in addition to them, there are going to be other familiar actors from Season 1. Beyond that, I’ve got quite a few candidates among new faces who I really love, but we haven’t formally cast anybody yet.

As of right now, though, Pedretti and Jackson-Cohen are the only confirmed cast members, so fans will have to wait for more casting announcements soon. The Haunting of Bly Manor will premiere on Netflix sometime in 2020.